Know More About Us

Hello again, Gator Nation. I find it quite useful to occasionally sit back and ponder the things in life that I often take for granted. I don't mean the "big" things such as my family or our health, for which I try to give daily thanks.

I mean things such as a car that starts most mornings (ours are out of warranty), a good cigar (the non-exploding kind), a golf shot I can find (and it's actually the ball I just hit) or HD television (how do they keep making these better?) Thus, let's ruminate about a few of the UFAA's Gator Nation programs in a kind of "I didn't know that!" exercise.

Let's start with Gator Clubs®. With nearly 100 Gator Clubs worldwide, members have raised more than $3 million in scholarship endowments and annually provide almost 200 students with financial aid. There are 55,000 dues-paying members of Gator Clubs and the UFAA. If you can't find a fellow Gator in your area, you probably always lost at hide-and-seek as a child.

The UFAA is the largest alumni program in the SEC, and our Student Alumni Association (OK, a bit oxymoronic) is the largest in the country at more than 8,000 members. We (the hard working, dedicated staff of the UFAA) host an estimated 1,500 guests before every home football game at Emerson Alumni Hall.

Let's finish with our Outreach program, an effective method of taking the university's messages on the road, including a primer on how to prepare your high school child for the admissions process to UF. In October and November, professors addressed gatherings in eight different cities, including two events in California.

Go Gators,
Mark A. Nouss